Mary Charlotte Lloyd (23 January 1819 – 1896) was a Welsh sculptor who studied with John Gibson in Rome and lived for decades with the well-known philosopher, animal welfare advocate, and feminist

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy group ...

Biography

Lloyd was born in

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

, Wales, the eighth of seventeen children, and the first of six girls, to Edward Lloyd of Rhagatt and his wife Frances Maddocks. Her father was a substantial squire over many counties, owning 4,300 acres of land, and Mary inherited money from a maiden aunt, Margaret, as well as gifts from Eleanor Charlotte Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, the

Ladies of Llangollen The "Ladies of Llangollen", Eleanor Butler (1739–1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755–1831), were two upper-class Irish women whose relationship scandalised and fascinated their contemporaries. The pair moved to a Gothic house in Llangollen, No ...

. Both of her parents died in 1858. She studied and worked with French artist

Rosa Bonheur Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals ( animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style. Her paintings include '' Ploughing in the Nivernais'', fi ...

. In 1853 she was working in the studio of Welsh sculptor John Gibson in Rome, along with American sculptor

Harriet Hosmer Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (October 9, 1830 – February 21, 1908) was a neoclassical sculptor, considered the most distinguished female sculptor in America during the 19th century. She is known as the first female professional sculptor. Among other ...

. Lloyd met Frances Power Cobbe in the winter of 1861-2, in Rome. Mary and Frances networked with like minded women in Italy in the period, both being nonconformist, with a feminist outlook. In 1863, they settled together in London. In 1858, Lloyd inherited a share in the Welsh landed estate of

Hengwrt Hengwrt ( en, Old Court) was a mansion near Dolgellau in Meirionnydd, Gwynedd. It lay in the parish of Llanelltyd near the confluence of the River Mawddach and River Wnion, near Cymer Abbey. With medieval origins, it was rebuilt or remodelled ...

. This allowed Lloyd to refer to herself as a landed proprietor when signing petitions supporting women's suffrage, and also gave her some local political rights, such as the ability to appoint a vicar. She and Frances Power Cobbe retired to Hengwrt from London in April 1884. Lloyd died in 1896 from heart disease and was buried together with Frances Power Cobbe in Saint Illtud Church Cemetery, Llanelltyd.

Relationship with Frances Power Cobbe

Mary and Frances were a couple, and were recognised as such by all their friends. Letters would be address to “you and Miss Lloyd” and Frances peppered her own writings with ‘our house’, ‘our garden’, ‘we’ and other joint terminology. Frances writing to her friend

Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...

refers to Lloyd as ‘my wife’, and her death in 1896 affected Frances badly. Her friend, the writer

Blanche Atkinson Blanche Isabella Atkinson (March 1847 – October 1911) was an English novelist and author of children's books. She is also noted for her correspondence and friendship with the influential art critic John Ruskin. Life and works Born in Aigburth, ...

, writing, “The sorrow of Miss Lloyd’s death changed the whole aspect of existence for Miss Cobbe. The joy of life had gone. It had been such a friendship as is rarely seen – perfect in love, sympathy, and mutual understand.” Mary Lloyd is the fictionalized narrator of a 2002 story by

Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel ''Hood'' w ...

, "The Fox on the Line", about the relationship between Lloyd and Cobbe, and their anti-vivisection activism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Mary 1819 births 1896 deaths 19th-century British sculptors 19th-century Welsh women artists Lesbian sculptors Welsh lesbian artists People from Denbighshire Welsh women sculptors Welsh LGBT sculptors